To be fair plastering is a messy and annoying task and needs a lot of patience..I did that myself in my old house and swore never again. (did the whole bedroom)

It takes ages and if you put to much plaster sanding it back down is a mission not to mention if not done properly it shows through after its painted. The dust and messy it creates not worth it. Defiantly need skill for that I would highly recommend getting that done professionally.

Painting that can be done by anyone, yes even you I'm sure.(my wife and I tag team in painting. You never know the DIY skills they have till you get them to do it haha).

The main thing is prep work. I spend more time to prep the area then to actually do the work as if prepped properly you can do the work much faster.

So we got a second quote which came in at $750 and then out of the blue one of the original painters we had tried to get a quote from who didn't call back, came by, and his is $1150+GST.

All 3 seem competent (and shocked by how badly the first job was done) and pointed out the same things, talked about the process and found all the same flaws in the current job. Some use Dulux, some Resene.

So in the end, we ended up with 3 quotes. $800 $1150 + GST and about $1550 from the original painter. We asked for a cash discount from the second painter who seemed the most experienced and professional and who recently did my wifes cousins house they are very happy with and got a 15% discount so $1150 all up, and he is starting Monday!

We're just working through the end stages of a project where the client chose the cheapest plasterer and painter he could find. Unfortunately the quality of workmanship is worse than we've ever seen. It looks like the sort of thing someone learning does, however he's the owner. It's ended up taking twice as long which has put the schedule out a couple of weeks and thus now won't be done before xmas. All we can do is try and never use the guy again.

Yeah, once upon a time price was a great indicator of quality, I wouldn't claim that to be true as much any-more. I felt the cheapest guy was very likely to do a great job, but I had a nagging doubt on price and went with the middle option.